Out of the lion's den
by Venice11
Summary: Chapter 6 Update! Eames, Arthur & Cobb are hired to do an extraction on a dangerous criminal from Arthur's dark past.  Rated T for violence and some language.
1. Chapter 1

Out of the lion's den

Part I

Arthur had always hated his name. Arthur. It described him exactly like he was: mature, sophisticated, succinct... He wondered if his parents had chosen to call him Joey or Jeff if he would have turned out differently...funnier, maybe more outgoing. Charles could become Chuck, Robert could be Rob. Arthur could only become Art, a colder and more standoffish name than before.

Although, after time, he began to embrace the professionalism his name afforded him. He embraced the simplicity of just introducing himself as Arthur, giving a firm handshake and being allowed to stand there silent, observing. People assumed he was a young professional, gave more credit where it was due. He could blend in, something that he valued highly in his line of work.

His childhood had not been easy. Cold, unfeeling parents shipping him off to private school from a young age, never calling, never visiting, and sending the occasional unpredictable birthday card filled with harsh words of 'encouragement'. He lashed out and started many fights. Kids learned to steer clear and leave him alone. One day he was called into the headmaster's office for a different reason; the school never received their tuition. They offered him a month of grace to contact his parents, arrange the transfer, but hope slowly drained from him when no letters were returned, no contact was reciprocated. Embarrassed and full of shame, he packed his bags in the middle of the night and left. He had just turned seventeen.

Crime had been an easy choice. A certain clever professionalism and a vicious anger streak ready to bubble out at any moment made him quickly rise through the ranks and he built a name for himself as a man with nothing to lose and nothing to fight for except his new boss. His new boss was -

Thunk! His mind stopped wandering as a quick blow to the head realigned his thoughts and through a haze he slowly refocused his mind to his surroundings. Dingy lighting barely illuminated the figure who had delivered the blow, and he sat slumped, dazed by pain, hands tied tightly behind a hard chair. He was underground somewhere, in a cold concrete room. His blurry eyes had a hard time of focussing.

"You can't even imagine the pleasure I'm getting from this." The voice had a certain mocking quality that jogged a slow memory in his mind, a memory that with recollection brought more awareness of the sharp throbbing pain emanating from nearly every part of his body.

It all came back to him. He had been sitting at a restaurant with a blonde man; the man had stubble lining his chin and gave a single name, Cobb. It was a business proposition, an escape for Arthur. Wanting to move on from a dead end life of petty crime, he pulled out a sleek black phone, dialled a single number and gave his resignation. Cobb and Arthur parted ways, arranging to meet the next morning to go over the details of the job and then a flight. Luckily, Arthur mused, he had very little to pack. His future was still unsure, but at least he was in a position to take control of it. He had done enough for his former boss to ensure his freedom when he chose, though he was still happy to be leaving town the next morning. You couldn't be certain his old boss wouldn't change his mind.

Suddenly, he had a sense that he was being followed. Taking a sharp turn down a narrow street, he began to run, his suit jacket trailed behind him on his thin frame in the darkness. A van screeched in front of him, and people were pouring out of it before he even had a moment to fully turn around. Throwing out a few punches in the flurry, he heard some satisfying grunts as his fists contacted with flesh, and then, darkness.

"If you're with RemCorp, I was told I could leave whenever I wanted. I earned my freedom." Arthur warned, double guessing the integrity of his old boss. The man gave a sharp barking laugh, and he knew immediately he had said the wrong thing.

"This is priceless! You've left Remcorp? And to think, I was rushing! I thought time was of the essence before they came looking for you. You've got no one coming to help you! That's just...wow...how does that feel?" Arthur chose not to answer the taunt, instead turning his head to the side.

"I said, how does that feel?" The man shouted, grabbing Arthurs chin and forcing him to look into his eyes. Arthur didn't need to look; he already knew who it was. Working for Remcorp had made him some powerful enemies, enemies whose lives he had made personally very difficult. One of those enemies was a competing company that employed desperate and rash criminals to do their dirty work. If Remcorp employees were subtle and sneaky and underhanded, Silus surrounded themselves with the 'nothing to lose' type of criminal that more often than not could be a candidate to be committed to a mental institution for being terrifyingly insane.

Arthur was washed over suddenly with the feeling of being old. Too old. His twenty first birthday had only been last week, but he felt his time was borrowed. Unwanted by his parents, unwanted by society... He had been offered a job he didn't deserve, wasn't supposed to have. He wasn't supposed to be here anymore, he was sure of it. This was just his past catching up with him, righting what was wrong. He was wrong.

Another blow sent his mind whirling, and he scrambled to regain his consciousness. He caught the glint of a knife in the man's hand, and a little thought flitted through the haze of pain. He felt a flicker of a feeling...a right to be there, a right to do what he did best, a right to survive. There was no way he would allow some two-bit criminal whose mind was mush live longer on this earth than he did. He had fought tooth and nail to get where he was, and while it wasn't much, it was what he had earned! He had every right to it, and this poor excuse of a man couldn't take it away from him.

He kicked out suddenly at the man's groin, catching him off guard. And the thug doubled up wheezing, he was quickly met with another blow, this one to the face. The man curled up on the ground cursing and Arthur tugged desperately on the knots on his wrists, sensing this was his one chance to free himself. Suddenly the door slammed open, and Arthur was suddenly blinded by the bright light that shone in from the hallway.

"Jesus Christ!" The voice swore, and Arthur realized it belonged to the man he had met today in the restaurant, though it felt so long ago. It was Cobb.

Sensing his chance for revenge was fleeting, the man suddenly plunged the knife into Arthur's calf with everything he had, and a white pain seared through Arthur's nerves, making him cry out in pain. Cobb took two purposeful strides into the room, levelled a dark metallic item with the goons head, and swiftly shot him as he attempted to scramble up from the floor.

"What the hell are you involved in!" Cob shouted, exasperated. Arthur could only groan in pain, and while darkness closed in on him, he faintly heard Cobb tell him to hold on, and he knew the worst was yet to come. A piercing pain shot through him again as the knife was swiftly removed from his leg and he felt himself quickly succumbing to unconsciousness, though it was short lived. A sharp slap to the face awoke him again to his reality, and Cobb began to lift him. He realized his arms were no longer bound, and instead he was being supported on Cobb's shoulder, being half dragged, half walked out of the building. After what seemed an eternity of fading in and out of reality he found himself in a car and was finally allowed to let the darkness close in.

Arthur woke up groggy and confused in an extremely decadent hotel room suite, light streaming across his face, and the soft murmur of a man's voice through the double doors. He had a certain level of clarity wash over him. In his darkest hour he had doubted his right to exist, and Cobb had fought for that right. He felt indebted to this mysterious man who had risked his life for his own.

Climbing slowly out of bed, his body resisted and he paused to fight the pain. He was in his boxers and he noticed his throbbing leg was now bandaged tightly; the nice three piece suit he had worn to the job interview was slung over a chair nearby. Lamenting the fact that it was probably hopelessly bloody and wrinkled, it had to do, and he slowly and painfully put it on. Moving carefully to the mirror in the washroom, he chanced a look at himself, and a fleeting moment of panic overtook him. His face was pale and bruised around the eye and temple, and his hair was dishevelled and out of place. He looked his age, which was frankly unacceptable. Turning on the tap, he quickly slicked his hair back and tried to look as mature as possible. Turning away from the mirror, he strode purposefully towards the door which he knew led to Cobb, his new employer, and his new life. They would never speak of the incident again; instead allowing Arthur's complete dedication to Cobb and the job speak for his gratitude.


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you all for your comments on the last chapter! I was so so soo shy to post a fic, and it was a great relief to see positive messages from you all!

To swampophelia, haha I guess I didn't pay good enough attention to the timeline in the movie, so I apologize for any confusion. I suppose this would have to be an alternate timeline then! 3

Cobb stared across absentmindedly at his young associate Arthur, who was swirling his drink around and inspecting the alcoholic contents in their plush first class seats.

"Gin and tonic?" Cobb inquired, and Arthur jumped a bit, unaware he was being watched.

"Oh yeah, takes the edge off flying." He replied, still focussed at the ice in his cup. Cobb could tell he was deep in thought and that there was little point in trying to force conversation. If there was one thing Cobb was terrible at, it was sitting still for long periods of time. Incidentally, it was something Arthur excelled at.

Taking a sip of his own favourite scotch, he let his own mind wander back to the day he had met the man. The incident had never been mentioned afterwards, but Cobb always lived with the guilt he felt for spooking Arthur in the first place. He hadn't realized the boy was in so deep in the criminal world that he would have been aware of his surroundings enough to catch the crafty Cobb as he picked after him in the night, trying to learn more about his new hire. It had been the least he could do to save the guy, and it wasn't until he was dressing his stab wound in his hotel suite that he noticed how young the man really was. Unconscious with messed up hair and no luxurious suit he looked more like he belonged in college, dating a cute girl and trying to decide what his degree would be in.

At first he had felt guilty dragging someone that young into a life of dangerous jobs in the subconscious, but he came to learn eventually that Arthur had been hardened long before he had ever met him, and that he wouldn't likely ever be the carefree young man that Cobb himself had been. They had never explicitly discussed Arthur's past, but Cobb would put his money on it being a somewhat traumatic one. Not that he was fully complaining; Arthur was by far the best partner he had ever worked with, and his kind of skill was something that was fashioned from a hard life, not learned.

Cobb stretched his muscular lean arms up and checked his watch, noting the time. Flights were such a bother; he would rather be at their warehouse already, working on their next project. Pulling out a manila folder from his briefcase he decided to peruse the contents, though he had practically memorized the contents.

Mark: Vincent Ray Smithe

Age: 39

Occupation: Silus Executive

Extraction: Incriminating Evidence of criminal ties

Following was a brief description of the mark's address and some generic but mostly useless paragraphs on his general habits and schedule. Cobb knew Arthur would find out much more practical and detailed information, but it was a start.

"Had any chance to do some preliminary research on the mark?" Cobb asked, attempting another shot at conversation.

"I'm sure it'll be no problem." Arthur replied coldly, hardly even looking up. Cobb shrugged, unsure of what put his partner in such a bad mood and instead decided to pass the rest of the flight with a nap.

Arthur sighed quietly to himself, mulling over his current predicament in his head. A job was a job, and it'd been nearly two years since he'd been in that part of town. People didn't last long in that industry, and he was sure there would be nobody left at Silus who would recognize him or know that he had worked for Remcorp. He was aware that he should disclose to Cobb his worries, but a deeper concern plagued his thoughts that he would be judged unfit for the job and forced to sit it out. Working with Cobb was the closest thing he had ever had to a family, and he couldn't bear Cobb finding someone to replace him, even for one job. He frowned to himself for acting so childish and insecure and groaned inwardly, hoping the job had taken him anywhere but here. Last he had heard, Remcorp was completely out of business, and he was sure it was probably a bloody loss on his former employer's side. He wondered momentarily about who had hired them, but that information was of course strictly confidential.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed! There'll be more soon, sorry for the short rushed chapter! 3


	3. Chapter 3

Introduction to Eames in the story! I hope I can do him justice; he's not really my strong suit! R+R for any advice or suggestions you might have :D

Part 3

It had been an excruciatingly long day for Arthur as he tried to focus on the words of research on the page in front of him. He pushed his chair back from the old wooden desk he had assigned himself in the cramped basement area of a cheap rented house and stretched. He had discarded his suit jacket long ago, and now he took the time to loosen his tie. His blurry eyes took in the increasingly sloppy notes he had been taking that night and he decided it was about time to call it quits. Doing a quick tidy of his work station he ran a hand through his irreparably mussed up hair and started to trudge up the stairs. He could hear the faint voice of Cobb upstairs talking to someone, probably on the phone, and he wondered how the older man could stay up so late every night; that man seemed to be endowed with unlimited energy. Just as he was about to ascend the first step, something caught his eye. It was the silver briefcase containing the PASIV device. Without any further thought he strode over to the machine, laid down on an old musty couch and expertly slipped the IV into his arm.

Immediately he found himself in a large rowboat drifting on an endless placid lake. Lazily he rowed for a few moments, watching the sleek oars disappear underneath the silvery water and re-emerge, splashing little beads of silver everywhere. This was his favourite relaxing place – no people, no nothing...just emptiness to clear his overworked mind. He was just settling down in the rowboat and enjoying the light rocking from side to side with the full moon shining over him when something jolted him. Sitting up in alarm he found his boat was no longer on a beautiful lake, it was now strangely enough sitting in the middle of land right in front of a large mansion. He could see lights on in all the windows, and the sound of voices and laughter trickled out. Looking around suspiciously, he caught sight of a petite redhead with freckles making her way to his boat. She was dressed in a silk black gown that was backless, yet tasteful enough to still appeal to Arthur.

"Hey sailor." She purred, and Arthur quickly clamoured out of his rowboat. He could feel his cheeks reddening from shame about being in such a ridiculous vehicle in front of such a classy party. She looked up at him from underneath thick black eyelashes that accentuated her dark black eyes and she walked past slowly, keeping eye contact as long as possible before she turned and entered the elegant front doors. Clearing his throat, Arthur straightened his vest and ran a hand through his slicked back hair. Trying not to rush, he climbed the stairs and followed after her.

Impossibly large chandeliers adorned the ceilings, they seemed almost to be dripping light and men and women dressed in their absolute finest milled about, chatting and drinking champagne. Arthur scanned the crowd and finally spotted a long mane of red hair trailing down an ivory back accentuated by that long black dress and he cautiously started towards her. Someone stepped in front of him blocking his way. Looking up, he was shocked to see Cobb.

"Oh, right...this is a dream, you're in my dream." Arthur deduced, remembering the reality of the situation. He mentally kicked himself; it had felt so real - though when Cobb was involved in dreams, they always felt alarmingly real.

"Sorry to intrude, Arthur." Cobb began, apologetically. "I just wanted to introduce you to our newest team mate." Arthur's heart skipped a beat at the thought that their teammate could be the beautiful woman he had met earlier. He scanned the crowd to spot her again, but was interrupted by a rumbling noise that seemed to shake the building. Some of the projections looked around suspiciously as the chandeliers shook about in protest. Cobb shouted suddenly, and instinctively Arthur leapt back, his cat-like reflexes taking charge, and he covered his face with his arm as glass seemingly flew from everywhere. Looking around he saw Cobb's lifeless body crushed underneath one of the many chandeliers, and that several more were at risk of falling. Running as quickly as he could, he passed the redhead and grabbing her arm, pulled her to an archway in the edge of the room. They both watched as four more chandeliers shattered about the grand ballroom and Arthur silently noted to himself how less polished the dream looked with Cobb no longer in it. The redhead suddenly slinked an arm around Arthur's waist and looked up at him with a twinkle in her eye. Uncomfortable, Arthur stiffened and shrugged her off. Wasn't she supposed to be the new team-mate? As attractive as he found her, he wasn't about to do anything remotely romantic with her in a situation like this.

"Am I not your type?" she pouted, and he noted a distinct British accent. Arthur smiled uncomfortably, finding the whole situation now painfully awkward.

"It's not that, it's just..." he began, but then leapt back as her face began to shimmer and shake and suddenly she wasn't a beautiful redhead anymore, she was a porn star type blonde, busting out of a ridiculous outfit. Arthur pushed her away with horror and turned to run but a strong arm grabbed his and he turned to see that it was no longer a busty blonde, but a tall rather muscular scruffy looking man.

"I never realized you were so skittish, love." He smirked, and Arthur scowled, wondering how a dream that was supposed to be relaxing was now anything but. He tried to yank his arm free, but froze when he saw a figure creeping up behind the Brit.

"Good lord, I'm not that scary, am I? Get a grip kid, my name is Eames, I'm here to work with you." His taunting grin suddenly froze and pain flooded his face as he looked back and saw the real reason Arthur was terrified. A short stocky man had roughly stabbed a knife into his side, and he doubled over in pain, blood dripping from his mouth. Arthur jerked his arm from Eames', and reached behind his jacket for the familiar gun he kept at all times. The stocky man jerked the knife out of Eames side just as Arthur put one shot between his team-mate's eyes. Moving alarmingly quickly for his size, the man slashed at Arthur, and he felt a searing pain across his face as suddenly he was thrown backwards.

"Cobb must be trying to slap me awake..." Arthur reasoned as he crawled backwards on the ground, searching about for his gun. He spied it and made a quick grab for it just as the man was coming down at him with the knife. Freezing in place unable to react, he watched as it came down almost in slow motion towards him and a crashing wave suddenly swept them both up and he awoke with a start, sweat streaming down his face and a horror he had once lived haunting his eyes.

"What the FUCK, mate?" Eames was shouting at Cobb, as Arthur tried to catch his breath. His face was dripping and Arthur touched his face, half expecting his hand to come away wet with blood. He breathed a sigh of relief as it came away water, but Eames strode over and quickly began to shake him by his vest.

"What did you do to me, what the...I just...fuck!" He yelled, as Cobb stepped in a separated them. Arthur swatted the British man's arms away from him and simply sat on the couch glaring.

"Just calm down!" Cobb reasoned, finally pulling Eames away and standing between them. "Arthur, are you alright?" He asked softly and Arthur nodded slowly, feeling his pulse begin to return to normal.

"Is HE alright? Is HE alright? ...Who has psycho knife wielding maniacs in their-" Eames went on, but Cobb interrupted him.

"JUST let it go, alright? We shouldn't have intruded, we should have known better. I'm sorry, Arthur, I was coming to introduce him to you; I didn't know you'd be in PASIV. I shouldn't have intruded in your dream. Can we let it go?" At the last line he looked pointedly at Eames, who nodded, seemingly much calmer.

Arthur pushed himself up from the couch and without another word trudged up the basement stairs and made his way to the small room his cot was held in. With disgust he rolled his eyes as he noticed there was now a second cot set up on the other side. Sighing, he changed quickly into his boxers and a white undershirt, and hearing someone approaching, he quickly jumped into bed and turned away, feigning sleep.

"Hey mate, I..." He heard the last voice he wanted to hear, somewhere near the foot of his cot. Arthur ignored it until he felt the weight of someone large sit on the corner of his bed. Scowling, he opened an eye and showed he was listening.

"What were you dreaming about before we came in?" The question caught Arthur completely off guard.

"I was in the middle of a lake that went on forever, relaxing in a boat. Not that it's any of your business." Arthur replied testily.

"Is that so that psycho bloke can't get you? If you dream of a place with no other people?" Eames pressed. Arthur closed his eyes and pointedly ignored the question, and signing, Eames got up, and began to prepare for bed.

"I'm sorry you got stabbed." A small voice came from under the blankets and Eames grinned in the dark at the unexpected apology.

"I'm sorry that your new team mate isn't a ravishing young redhead, mate." Eames replied, and Arthur groaned inwardly.

I hope you guys enjoy this chapter; it was really hard to do the complexities of Eames' and Arthur's competitive friendship...yikes. 3


	4. Chapter 4

Hey, here's a quick chapter I've had to get out of the way. I promise the next one will be much more action packed! Thank you all so much for the wonderful comments, they're so so so inspirational!

Part 4

Eames awoke at seven, having spent a rather restless night tossing and turning. His mind kept wandering back to the haunted raw look on Arthur's face when he had been woken up, how the younger man had looked twice his age. It was a look that he was all too familiar with.

He briefly wondered if the side effect of no dreams was something they both were subconsciously drawn to. No dreams meant no nightmares, and PASIV (for the most part) allowed complete control when they did dream. Sighing, he ran his hand through his hair and located his rumpled jeans halfway across the room; he quickly pulled them on and snuck a look at his room-mate. Arthur was sprawled across his bed, his face the picture of peace.

"How do you like that?" Eames mused. "I'm up all night after encountering his demons, and he gets to sleep like a baby!" Pulling on a shirt he made his way (perhaps a little louder than necessary) out of the room to find some tea.

It was another hour or so before Arthur finally emerged from his bedroom, bleary eyed and scruffy haired to find Cobb and Eames both seated at the kitchen table.

"Good morning, princess!" Eames greeted in a sing song voice without even looking up from his newspaper.

"There's more coffee." Cobb added, and Arthur gratefully made a beeline for the beverage he required to get his morning started.

Cobb gave them both a few more minutes of calm before he started into work talk, pulling out a folder containing several photographs he had taken the day before.

"Care to brief us on the information you've gathered, Arthur?" Cobb Inquired.

Arthur cleared his throat and sorted through the pictures on the table, finally finding the one he wanted.

"Eames, this is Vincent, he runs a large company called Silus. They've recently run their only competition Remcorp into the ground, and rumour has it, it was with a lot of help from any and every criminal for hire they could get on their payroll." Arthur cleared his throat. "Most of the executives met grisly ends."

"Who hired us?" Eames piped in.

Arthur searched around on the table before locating a second image. "This part is interesting - This is Alex; he and Vincent were friends since the age of six. Vincent trusts Alex more than he trusts his own wife and children. Alex's role in the company is to keep Vincent's hands clean by doing all the dirty work himself, and believe it or not, Alex is the one who's hired us. He's suspicious Vincent will cut him out of the company now that the dirty work is done. Due to the sensitive nature of it, he wants this done with extreme confidentiality, so he has given us only first names to work by."

Eames snatched the photo out of Arthur's hands and took a closer look at it, and Arthur let a brief expression of annoyance flick across his face.

"Hmmm...so I take it you all want me to forge Alex's identity and use his trust against him, right?"

"I thought maybe we could disguise ourselves as professionals for hire offering our services to take out Alex." Cobb answered.

"Well then why would we even need a forger?" Arthur asked innocently, ignoring Eames' glare.

"I was thinking Eames would forge Alex's identity-" Eames smirked. " Arthur and I would suggest a business proposition that would effectively demand we cut Alex out of the deal. IF he agrees, we will capture 'Alex' and see if Vincent allows us to pull the trigger. If he does, we know he's not to be trusted, and if he doesn't, Alex can be sure he's still an important part of Silus."

"How do we get Vincent alone somewhere we can put him under?" Arthur asked.

"Well...Alex has offered to call Vincent to his house; there he says we can safely put him under with a little help from something slipped in his drink, and then go into the dream." Cobb replied, nervously.

"That sounds...suspicious..." Eames frowned, trying to imagine being passed out in a strange house alone with a notorious criminal.

"We could stagger our entrances and exits to the dream world to be sure someone is always there watching. You don't need me until later on the dream, so I could simply wake Cobb up and enter to take over." Arthur suggested. All three men sat thinking on this a few moments, finding no flaws in that logic.

"Ok, it's been decided. We meet at Alex's mansion at seven o'clock tomorrow night where I've been assured that Vincent will be under. Please come discreetly armed, and this should last no longer than an hour." Grim eyes looked from one to the other at the table as their mind carefully calculated their coming roles the next night. Eames grabbed the picture of Alex off the table and stood up.

"Looks like I've got some research to do, I'll be practicing my part if anyone needs me!" he shouted as he thudded down the rickety stairs.

Cobb looked across the table and caught Arthur's eye.

"Arthur, we've been partners for a while now...I can tell when something's on your mind. Is everything alright? Because if for any reason you can't do this mission, just let me know and we'll call it off."

"Trust me, I'm fine, I need to do this." Arthur replied, meeting Cobb's eyes with a steady gaze.

"Alright, you know I trust you. I need to go wrap up some last minute details." Cobb grabbed his coat and prepared to leave while Arthur stared into his coffee mug, silently brooding. Cobb clapped him on the shoulder on the way out, and he'd be lying to himself if he wasn't just a little bit worried about his point man.

Sorry this chapter has been a bit boring, I just had to set up their job and get it out of the way. Next chapter, they enter the dream world and things do not go well! I'll try to make it as action packed as possible to make up for this boring chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

Part 5

By six o'clock that night they had all piled into Cobb's modest car and were driving in silence towards the mansion. One of the most challenging parts had been the location of the dream.

While Eames had been a fan of his favourite bar scene, Cobb had been firm on it being something a little more personal and less distracting to the mark. The fact of the matter was, Alex would be most comfortable to make a decision of such magnitude somewhere where he felt in control of the situation, and time and time again, they answer kept coming back that it had to be in Alex's house. Unfortunately, none of them had ever had access to his house, so the plan was for Cobb to ask Alex to bring him to his home in the dream, where Alex would hopefully fill in the details of their empty house slate with his subconscious.

It was terribly risky because the three of them would be at a disadvantage of having little knowledge of the layout. Other missions they would have spent hours going over every alley, nook and closet, but now they'd be going in blind.

Arthur looked out the window as the buildings grew farther and farther apart, and mini-marts and apartments gave way to sprawling lawns and gated houses. Finally Cobb turned down a long driveway and they reached their destination. Striding purposefully towards the door, Eames gave a knock, and a large man opened the door, eyeing them suspiciously. Arthur's stomach dropped, though you never would have known it by his expression, as he laid eyes on the man who had been such a negative fixture of his young life.

"Come in." Vincent said, opening the door. It had seemed brazen to open the door personally, but then Arthur noticed the four large body guards standing about armed to the teeth. Arthur also noticed that Eames face did an impressive switch from 'unprofessional jokester' to 'cold calculating killer' as he sized up every man in the room. He was most definitely someone he wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of, though he'd never admit it to his face.

The door closed behind them and they were led solemnly up a flight of stairs and into a lavishly decorated study. Rich coloured leather chairs and beautiful dark mahogany furniture decorated the room. The only thing out of place was the smartly dressed unconscious man in one of the oversized chairs.

"Normally, I would personally disarm every one of you." Vincent drawled as he eyed each and every one of them. Arthur couldn't help notice that his eyes held a menacing, almost snake-like quality. "But since we are all business...associates...I will allow you to keep your weapons. For now."

"Uh, thanks." Cobb responded absentmindedly as he got to work setting up his silver briefcase on the floor near Alex's unconscious body. Two of the four bodyguards stood purposefully in front of the closed study doors and the other two stood guard on the other side. Failure of this mission was clearly not an option.

Once all the IV's were out, Cobb stood and faced Vincent.

"This shouldn't take long. We are going to enter him into a dream state and find out for you on his deepest most subconscious level where his loyalties lie. For the sake of security, Arthur will stay behind for the first half, and then he will wake me up and I will update you on the situation. Shortly thereafter, both Eames and Arthur will awaken and we will have your answer."

Vincent nodded and it was their cue to start. Cobb gave Arthur a knowing look, and after Alex, Cobb and Eames were hooked up, Arthur pressed the white button. Looking around awkwardly he suddenly felt very alone. Arthur sat somewhat nervously on one of the leather chairs and awkwardly looked around at the serious faces staring at him. This was going to be an uncomfortably long half hour.

A/N: I know I know I'm sorry, I know I said I'd get to the action part, but I just got called into work so this will just have to be enough for now! I promise tomorrow I'll get it done ;) Thank you sooo much for your comments, they're so encouraging! Love you all! 3


	6. Chapter 6

Haha OK first off, I have to apologize, I must not have double checked properly cause apparently I've mixed up Vincent and Alex's name which must make it terribly confusing! I'll try to fix that ASAP!

Part 6

As uncomfortable as it was for Arthur to be surrounded by all of those expressionless menacing faces, he was glad he could still be there to watch over Cobb and Eames. He didn't trust these men as far as he could throw them, and the three of them all prone and unconscious around such callous criminals would have been pushing their luck.

Sneaking a glance at Vincent, he pushed back his feelings of revulsion. Working with Cobb he had successfully been able to keep his mind relentlessly occupied with research and jobs, but being in such close proximity with people connected to his past he felt his mind start to wander. He especially wondered how his old boss from Remcorp would have felt about Arthur being this close to their old enemies without putting a bullet through their heads. He didn't know why he had such loyalty to a company that had essentially used him to do their dirty work, though he suspected it had something to do with the fact that they were the first people who looked at the scrawny kid he had been and seen the potential there was in him. They had embraced and nourished his anger and after he had found a better opportunity, they had allowed him to move on. The violent acts he had become accustomed to committing while working for them also hadn't hurt in his current line of work, either.

Vincent cleared his throat and Arthur looked up, his thought process interrupted.

"You seem to have forged a certain partnership with that Cobb fellow." Vincent stated.

"Working together has been beneficial for the both of us, yes." Arthur replied, testily.

"How do you trust a man who is a genius at fiddling about in people's minds without them even knowing he was there?"

"If I can't trust him, I can't trust anybody." Arthur replied, simply.

"As you can see, I don't trust anybody." Vincent growled, and gave a knowing glance to the bodyguards. They both drew their guns and aimed at Arthur's head.

To his credit, he didn't flinch, and kept his gaze levelled on the man behind the desk.

"Give me your gun." He directed.

Arthur slowly reached back and took the gun out from his waistband, holding it harmlessly in the air.

"No, bring it to me. And be very careful about what you do next, boy." Vincent barked. Arthur tentatively got up and being very aware of the two guns pointed at his back, he walked up to Vincent's large wooden desk and extended the gun to him. Moving faster than a man his size should have been capable of, Vincent grabbed the gun and then pulled Arthur towards him by his tie until he was so close that Arthur could smell the alcohol on his breath.

"You never ranked high enough to concern me, but I know your face. I know who you worked for and I know one of my men died at your hands. I don't know how you got away, or what the situation was, and I don't care. You don't get to be in my position without thoroughly investigating every single person you surround yourself with, no matter how... **insignificant**."

He practically spit the word insignificant at Arthur before landing a surprise punch to the younger man's face, releasing his tie in the process. Arthur stumbled back a bit gasping for air before regaining his composure, and he made a show of straightening his vest and tie.

"You're lucky that's all you're getting for killing one of my men. When is your business associate Cobb waking up?" Vincent growled at Arthur.

"Four minutes." He replied, after checking his watch. He could hardly hide his relief about leaving this room, and made a show of glowering darkly in Vincent's general direction while he slowly began to gather his mp3 player and headphones, prepping everything to give the musical signal to warn Cobb his time was almost up.

Cobb was sitting in a lavish kitchen in a mansion that was roughly the same size as the one his unconscious body was now sleeping in, watching Alex pour them both a drink. The older man was taking as much time as possible to mull over the proposition he had been offered.

"How soon could it be done, if I were to, say, agree?" Alex carefully worded his question, trying to be nonchalant. Eames had done a terrific job earlier of allowing himself to be 'overheard' making suspicious sounding phone calls. It had been a cinch for Cobb to feed into the paranoia that clearly plagued both Alex and Vincent.

"I would make just one phone call, and my associate would set the ball in motion." Cobb gratefully accepted the scotch, and took a sip.

"When my partner and I started, we were really just boys. All we had in common was our all-consuming desire for success, and a clear affinity for violence. I've called for the deaths of many men without so much as a second thought, so why is this any different to me?" Alex mused aloud. He quickly drained his scotch and looked up with a certain sense of finality in his eyes.

"I suppose on some level we both expected this is how it would end. Our ruthless natures made us what we are today, but they will also be the thing to undo our loyalties to each other. We know each other well enough to realise what the next logical step is in each other's mind, and it's just a matter of who acts first. Mr. Cobb, with your help, I intend to do that. I only ask for one thing: that I am the one who pulls the trigger. I owe my partner that much."

Cobb nodded, pulling out a cell phone.

"It's a go. Bring him here; he wants to do it himself." Cobb was all business as he looked up at Alex, faintly hearing music drifting by in the distance.

"I have some important loose ends to tie up. My associate Arthur will be bringing Vincent by shortly. He will be blindfolded and you will have the chance to do what you need to do. I will be arranging things to make it look like an accident; we will expect your payment shortly."

Cobb grabbed his jacked, and pulling it on, he looked at the face of the strong man, and saw a flicker of doubt cross his face. "You're doing the right thing." He reassured, clapping him on the shoulder.

Alex didn't respond as Cobb walked through the front door and awoke on the floor of a luxurious study, Arthur's dark eyes staring into his own.

"Eames will meet you in the basement; he's taken on the form of Vincent, and will be blindfolded. Alex wants to do it himself." Arthur nodded, and Cobb decided it was best not to comment on the bruise that was forming under Arthur's right eye. Switching places, he hooked in the needle and everything melted away.

Arthur loved the feeling of being in the dream world on a mission. There was something about how in-tune every muscle and ligament was, how sharp his senses were. The familiar weight of the gun in his hand was heavy, yet not restrictive, and he tucked it carefully behind his jacket. Running his hand through his carefully gelled hair he surveyed his surroundings. It was a dingy badly lit basement and Eames was sitting in a chair with a wolfish grin on his face, though it was all the more disquieting as it was Vincent's cold beady eyes looking back at his, not Eames charismatic brown ones.

"Who gave you the shiner, pet?" He inquired, turning somewhat serious.

"As far as Alex knows, you did." He replied, not in the mood for their banter. Arthur loosely tied Eames arms behind the chair and he knelt down, loosely tying his legs as well. Just as he was about to put on the blindfold, Eames broke the silence.

"Arthur?" He asked, quietly

"What?" Arthur replied, impatiently.

"Just uh, just make sure he doesn't torture me or anything, right?" He looked up at the younger man somewhat nervously. Arthur shook his head, almost amused before he put the blindfold on.

"Don't worry; I'll make sure it's a headshot or nothing." He reassured. "We don't even know for sure if he's even going to go through with it." He then took the last step of carefully gagging him and with everything in place Arthur took one last look around before climbing the basement stairs. His mind was a tangle of thoughts, most of them dark, and he wondered whether fate had brought him back to this part of his past for a reason.

Did he have anything personal to gain from Vincent killing Alex? Or would it be better for Alex to kill Vincent? Ideally both would be dead and he could get closure, and as Arthur reached the top of the stairs and began to open to door, he wished he had spent more time mulling over how influential his part in this was. There certainly was a possibility to do a lot of damage to Silus from the inside, but here he stopped himself. His loyalties were with Cobb, this was to go down like Cobb wanted, and there was no deviating from the plan.

Arthur was surprised to see how nervous Alex was as he walked down the stairs, and the older man could hardly look up at Vincent as he sat on the chair.

"Don't worry, Vincent, I'll make sure your family is taken care of. I know you'd do the same for me." Eames put up a good show of mumbling into the gag, and Arthur could see sweat pour down his forehead. This must be unbearably hard, waiting to get shot, and he didn't envy the Brit one bit. What did surprise him though was that Alex then strode across the room and removed Eames's gag.

"Are there any messages you want me to pass on, I owe you last words at the very least."

"Uh..." Eames's mind stalled as he tried to think of something to say that wouldn't blow his cover.

"He's still a little out of it, probably..." Arthur tried to explain.

"Tell my wife I love her." Eames replied, nervously trying to be as vague as possible. Arthur watched something flicker across Alex's face.

"Shit." He thought to himself as Alex turned to face him.

"Why does he think he has a wife? His wife's been dead for two years."

"I meant...I'll tell her myself soon, right?" Eames nervously corrected, feeling it all coming apart.

"What day did we start our company together?" Alex then asked, suspiciously looking from Arthur to Eames.

"It was so long ago, you know..." Eames weakly tried to explain. Alex slowly turned and levelled the gun to Arthur's head.

"How would Vincent forget that? It's the goddamn **password** for our **computers**!" He screamed, his panicked eyes trying to make sense of what was going on. "Why is there a man who looks like Vincent tied up in my basement?" He shook the gun in Arthur's face who kept his hands raised as non-threateningly as possible.

"Security!" he shouted up the stairs, and Arthur's mind was a whirling of thoughts as he tried desperately to find a way to talk his way out of this. He wished Cobb was here, this was his strong suit.

"Answer me!" Alex screamed, and Arthur's world exploded in white as Alex pistol whipped him and he tasted the metallic tang of blood in his mouth. He had to think fast, as the last thing he wanted to do was re-awaken in the study with a mad Vincent and an even madder Alex.

Arthur looked over at Eames to see he had returned to his original form, and was quietly untying the ropes that Arthur had intentionally kept loose.

"If you want the answer, we were hired by Vincent. We're extractors." Arthur replied, deciding that the only way they would get out of the study was if Vincent and Alex were more concerned with each other than the extractors. Alex, however, looked sceptical.

"Why would Vincent hire you to kill a fake version of him?" He asked, sceptically.

"He hired us to see if YOU would kill a fake version of him. He wanted to see where your loyalties lie. You're dreaming, mate. We're actually all sleeping in Vincent's study as we speak. If you had killed me, I would have awoken early and Vincent would have known you'd killed him. You'd be dead before you woke up." Eames answered.

"I had heard of extractors. I never used them, of course. I preferred a less subtle way of eliminating competition." Alex mused, considering his situation. "But...Vincent doesn't know I failed his little test, does he?" Alex lowered his gun from Arthur and turned to look at Eames.

Eames nodded cautiously.

"As far as we're all concerned, I refused to kill Vincent... I passed the test, right?" He shook the gun at them, and they both nodded carefully. "Now how do we wake up?" he mused to himself absentmindedly

"Get over there by your friend." He ordered, and Eames slowly walked over and reached out a hand to help Arthur up. Arthur carefully reached behind his jacket and grabbing his concealed gun, he accepted Eames hand.

"I'm sorry Eames." Arthur said quietly, and before Eames could pull him up, Arthur had skilfully aimed his gun and shot Eames right between the eyes.

"No! No!" Alex screamed, shooting his own gun at Arthur, hitting him in the right shoulder. Arthur crumpled to the floor by Eames's motionless body, and holding his shoulder in pain, he looked up fearlessly with dark piercing eyes at Alex who was striding towards him.

Arthur smirked, spitting some blood out. Before Alex could take another shot, he crumpled lifeless to the floor. Vincent had killed him, and Arthur was just glad he didn't afford his friend the same respect of any last words that Alex had given him.

Levelling his own gun to his head, Arthur tried to cool his nerves. He had never had to shoot himself before, but was sure Cobb and Eames would need him by now. Taking a ragged breath, he closed his eyes and pulled the trigger.

Shouting was all he could make out as he woke up, dazed by the experience. Cobb helped him up and he looked around cautiously. Alex's body lie where he had been dreaming, blood seeping out onto the dark leather chair. Vincent's eyes were terrifying, and practically glowed with rage. Trying to avoid attention, Arthur quickly packed up the suitcase and stood off to the side with Eames.

"Take him out of here." Vincent barked, and the two body guards moved forward to drag the body out of sight. Arthur could feel Eames glaring holes in the back of his head, but he ignored him for now, not looking forward to having to explain himself later.

"I suppose our job here is done, then?" Cobb asked, his calm voice not betraying how precarious their current situation was.

"The deposit will be made into your account within two days." They all turned to leave with relief.

"Arthur, don't ever let me catch you in this city again." Vincent threatened, his searing eyes burning into Arthur's dark ones. "Next time you'll get more than a black eye." The three of them didn't press their luck and quickly exited the mansion.

The drive back to the rented house was thankfully silent, and Arthur was relieved at the lack of questioning. Clamouring out of the vehicle, they made their way in unison up the stairs and into the warm and safe house they had rented.

"I need to have a word with you, Arthur." Cobb demanded icily, and feeling like a child about to be punished, Arthur hung his head as he followed Cobb into his room. Cobb closed the door and glared at him, clearly quite upset.

"Don't you **ever,** **ever **risk our lives like that again. Do you hear me? That was completely unacceptable! What were you thinking?"

"I'm sorry..." Arthur mumbled quietly. Cobb had never yelled at him before and even thought he knew he had been wrong, it still stung.

"From now on, if you have a personal history with a job, you let me know, do you hear me?" Arthur's ears turned pink at the knowledge that Eames could probably hear every word. He nodded in silent acknowledgement, not trusting himself to speak. "I trust you, Arthur. You're my point-man. You're the best in the business. If you're in trouble with someone just let me know next time." Cobb felt bad for yelling at the suddenly demure and sullen Arthur, and clapped him on the shoulder.

"I'm sorry. It won't happen again." Arthur replied, briefly meeting Cobb's eyes before turning around and exiting the room. He made his way into the kitchen where Eames was already pouring two generously sized drinks of whisky.

"I snatched this from Vincent's study when everything went to shit." He explained, proudly. "It's ridiculously expensive, but only the best for you, darling."

Arthur wordlessly sat down at the table and drank his in one gulp, Eames immediately pouring him another.

"So how about that's the last time you shoot me, eh?" Eames asked, a twinkle in his eye. Arthur smiled despite himself.

"I can't promise anything, but I'll do my best!" He answered, and Eames pouted across the table at him. Arthur raised his glass

"Fine, fine! I propose a toast to never ever shooting Eames again!"

Eames grinned from ear to ear, and they clinked their glasses, both of them downing the contents in a single gulp.

Cobb joined them shortly thereafter and after several hours and an empty two-six of fine whisky later, Eames supported the significantly drunken Arthur as they stumbled into their shared room. Lying on their respective beds, they drunkenly threw their shoes off and both lay staring at the ceiling in silence.

``Do you miss your old life, darling?" Eames slurred at Arthur who took a few moments of silence to answer. Eames gratuitous use of pet names had grown exponentially with each drink.

"No, of course not! What old life?" He answered his voice unintentionally loud from the liquor. "My life sucked before I met Cobb. Sucked." He turned on his side to face Eames. "Why, do you miss yours?"

"Kindof. Sortof. Running around at recess, playing by the creek, teasing girls..." Eames laughed at his answer. "I guess I expected no less of you, though. You're too solemn for your own good, too dark. Product of a bad environment?" Eames grinned and rolled over to face Arthur, but realized the younger man had fallen into a drunken slumber.

He stared at the passed out younger man, reflecting drunkenly on the days events. Working with Cobb and Arthur was something entirely different than any dynamic he had ever been in. They weren't just partners, they were friends. He envied that, realizing it was something he'd never had before. In a business where you had to constantly watch your back, these two were forever watching each others. He knew his pride would never allow him to ask, but he hoped with every fibre of his being that once the money was deposited in their account he would be allowed to continue travelling with them.

A/N: There we go, sorry it was a bit of a rush job, I hope you all aren't disappointed by the outcome! And I really hope I did the characters justice, I've just re-read this so many times to check for mistakes, etc, that I can't even tell anymore if I like it! Haha so I'm going to just submit it and hope for the best! Maybe a part two with the three of them working together? Let me know what you all think! 3


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